Search

This study investigated the development of subcortical pitch processing, as reflected by the scalp-recorded frequency-following response, during early infancy. Thirteen Chinese infants who were born and raised in Mandarin-speaking households were recruited to partake in this study. Through a prospective-longitudinal study design, infants were tested twice: at 1–3 days after birth and at three months of age. A set of four contrastive Mandarin pitch contours were used to elicit frequency-following responses. Frequency Error and Pitch Strength were derived to represent the accuracy and magnitude of the elicited responses. Paired-samples t tests were conducted and demonstrated a significant decrease in Frequency Error and a significant increase in Pitch Strength at three months of age compared to 1–3 days after birth. Results indicated the developmental trajectory of subcortical pitch processing during the first three months of life.

This study investigated the development of subcortical pitch processing, as reflected by the scalp-recorded frequency-following response, during early infancy. Thirteen Chinese infants who were born and raised in Mandarin-speaking households were recruited to partake in this study. Through a prospective-longitudinal study design, infants were tested twice: at 1–3 days after birth and at three months of age. A set of four contrastive Mandarin pitch contours were used to elicit frequency-following responses. Frequency Error and Pitch Strength were derived to represent the accuracy and magnitude of the elicited responses. Paired-samples t tests were conducted and demonstrated a significant decrease in frequency error and a significant increase in pitch strength at three months of age compared to 1–3 days after birth. Results indicated the developmental trajectory of subcortical pitch processing during the first three months of life.

Objective: Previous research has shown the usefulness of utilizing auditory chimeras (i.e., interchanging the envelope and fine structure of two different sounds) in assessing a listener’s perception of the envelope and fine structure for an acoustic stimulus. However, research comparing and contrasting behavioral and electrophysiological responses to this stimulus type is scarce. Design: Two sets of chimeric stimuli were constructed by interchanging the envelopes and fine-structures of the rising /yi2/ and falling /yi4/ Mandarin pitch contours that were filtered through 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 frequency banks. Behavioral pitch-perception tasks (through a single-interval, two-alternative, forced-choice paradigm) and electrophysiological responses (through the frequency-following response to voice pitch using validated scalp-recorded potential methods) were obtained from two groups of participants (native speakers of a tonal or nontonal language). Study Sample: Thirteen American and 13 Chinese adults were recruited. Results: A two-way analysis of variance showed significance (p